Billerica Assessors Reject Mass Personal Property Mailing Over Backlash Concerns

BILLERICA -- December 18, 2024, Billerica Board of Assessors shelves proposal for mass personal property outreach letter. The board met December 18 and informally rejected a staff proposal to send letters to all roughly 50,000 real estate parcel owners in town asking them to self-report taxable personal property holdings. The proposal, developed by a staff member identified only as Chad after he completed coursework on personal property assessment, was seen by board members as likely to generate a high volume of constituent complaints to the assessors' office, the town manager, and the Select Board. One member cited a prior failed effort in Billerica in which an outside collection firm "within a year was gone because they were calling the offices, they were calling the board, they were calling the town manager." The board discussed an alternative approach, engaging an outside consultant to identify the top 20 underassessed personal property accounts by industry sector, but took no formal action on that either, ending the open session with a unanimous vote to enter executive session on abatement cases.